Object 1180: Secret Warsaw Pact Nuclear Bunker
Object 1180 was one of the many Underground Reserve Command Posts of the Warsaw Treaty. This one was situated in Moldova and construction started in 1985.
The structure was cylindrical in shape, and the bunker was composed of two such cylinders, 36 metres in diameter and 60 metres deep. The structure and rooms within were entirely made of steel plates covered with a protective NBC liner, with reinforced concrete surrounding the exterior of the structure and capping it.
Purpose and Design
The bunker was meant to provide a safe alternate command post for the Warsaw Pact military leadership in case of a nuclear war. We are talking living quarters, infirmary and pharmacy, a command and control centre with communication gears, power generation and supply, food and water reserves (well?), Ventilation and filtration, and decontamination rooms, over 12 underground storeys.
Abandonment
This bunker was never completed and was abandoned at the fall of the Soviet Union. An identical bunker (Object 1161) was built and completed in Belarus right on time for the fall of the Soviet Union. It was subsequently abandoned, condemned and buried for safety reasons.
-RBM.
